WARRINGTON Male Voice Choir members have been singing the praises of those who enjoyed its Christmas Voices Christmas Brass concert and visitors who donated to charity.

An audience of over 400 people went along to the Parr Hall on December 18 to listen to and enjoy the choir and Leyland Band, as well as joining in with the singing of Christmas carols.

The concert remembered those no longer with us as a result of the pandemic. Time was also taken to acknowledge the role of the NHS – as the choir had donated seats to the Warrington & Halton Hospitals Charity for employees – and other key workers during the pandemic.

After enjoying a great evening of voices and brass, many audience members donated to the exit bucket collection in aid of St Rocco’s – raising £600 in support of the work done by the charity in the town.

Chairman Bob Williams said: “The choir were delighted with the audience turnout, despite it being somewhat lower than ticket sales indicated; a reflection, possibly, of some peoples ongoing concerns regarding Covid.

“Thanks to the efforts of the team at Radio General, the concert also went out live to patients in Warrington General Hospital.

“The concert was dedicated to those choir members who had passed away since the choir’s last performance at the Parr Hall - Christmas Voices Christmas Brass in December 2019 - and a special festive message from Choir Patron Terry Waite CBE was also read.”

The group sung a rendition of Chris de Burgh's Spaceman Came Travelling and the singer-songwriter took to Twitter to say: “Well done, a great version! Happy Christmas to all in the choir.”

Since returning to live, bi-weekly rehearsals in September last year, the choir has seen seven new members join and the majority of them were on stage at the Parr Hall.

To help them with their first major stage performance with the choir, every chorister used music folders during the concert – the first time this has ever been done by the choir.

Bob added: “Looking forward, the date is already in the diary for this year’s Christmas Voices Christmas Brass - December 17, 2022. See you then!”